50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 169 Digging Deep

To say that those graduates suffered in the local areas is true; they suffered, and the suffering was excruciating. In the end, those who could no longer hold on had no choice but to settle down in the local area, where they could only find better living conditions.

But what are these hardships compared to the farmers who work in the fields all their lives to make a living?

More than a decade later, some people still created scar literature, which was nothing but self-pity. In the end, it went from empathy to sentimentality. Even those who knew the inside story were unwilling to read it, and it disappeared within a few years.

The first half of 1969 passed in such a vigorous atmosphere.

As the students left the city, it became quiet.

The kindergarten gate was finally reopened by Sun Zhiwei, but the back door was not closed and was still used as the entrance and exit to the family area.

After two months of peace and stability, the external situation suddenly became tense again.

On August 8, the American newspaper The Star published a news item in a prominent position with the title "XX intends to perform a surgical H strike on XX."

It is not known whether the news is true or not, but since there is news, we must take it seriously.

On September 9rd and September 23th, within just one week, two mushroom bombs exploded in succession during an underground airdrop.

Especially the airdrop incident later, when the 300 million ton mushroom was announced, there was an uproar outside, but not a single word was published in the newspaper.

Doubts and speculations are flying around outside, but we remain unmoved.

No matter who it is, they have to calm down. Sure enough, the external situation immediately stabilized.

But as the book says, "Despise the enemy strategically and take the enemy seriously tactically."

Starting from this month, mass activities of digging air-raid shelters and trenches were widely carried out in large and medium-sized cities across the country, with hundreds of millions of participants.

In September of this year alone, 30 people in the capital participated in the excavation work.

The kindergarten also received a notice requiring that the area of ​​the air-raid shelter should reach half a square meter per person, but there was no requirement for its sturdiness.

A large air-raid shelter was built in the park a few years ago, so there is no need to worry about it now, but there is no such shelter in the family area yet.

Although we know it is useless, we still have to dig the hole in order to respond to the call.

Sun Zhiwei began to organize employees and their families to dig an air-raid shelter underground in Tiancantan, but he did it by digging a cellar.

He had already thought about it. The hole could be dug, but it didn't have to be used as an air-raid shelter. Instead, he planned to use it directly as a cellar after it was dug.

He had already designed the structural diagram and dug it in the shape of a fishbone, with a main tunnel leading to rooms that looked like a bunch of small grapes.

After it was built, each family in the housing estate was allocated a room to store cabbages for the winter.

This civil air defense project is a continuous project.

The first phase started this year and lasted until 1974. There was no specific plan. Basically, the goal was to mobilize the masses to dig their own digs.

Inside compounds, houses, offices, shops, workshops—anywhere people were present—air-raid shelters had to be dug. After work, everyone dug collective air-raid shelters in factories, enterprises, and units. After get off work, they dug their own air-raid shelters. As for the public air-raid shelters in the streets, residents took turns using them.

Even the disabled joined in the "deep digging" effort: the blind dug slag, the deaf-mute set off blasters, and those on crutches and in wheelchairs were all busy digging holes.

A report mentioned that there was a 103-year-old old lady who stayed at the digging site every day, delivering water, passing tools, sometimes loading soil, and leading her son, grandson, and great-grandson to dig holes together.

It was also from this year that many pioneers in digging holes emerged.

After digging the hole, bricks had to be used to reinforce it, so the city wall bricks that were originally ignored became a hot commodity.

Many teachers took their students to the demolished city wall every day to transport bricks back.

Each brick of the city wall weighs more than 50 kilograms, and the teenagers pull one brick at a time.

Elementary school students aged eight or nine would work together to carry a piece, or each person would carry half a piece, carrying a certain distance and dragging a certain distance, and they could complete a trip in a day.

Although it was hard work, the children were very happy. It was happier than attending school. This stage was the happiest time for the children. The children would rather dig dirt and move bricks than go to school.

Their daily play locations have also changed from alleys to tunnels, and the main games they play are "hide and seek" and "catch the bad guys".

Because these games can effectively help children become familiar with the entrance and exit routes of the air-raid shelter, adults will not stop them.

As for the effect, this kind of purely manual excavation can only dig out simple air-raid shelters.

The soil layer above is generally about two meters, with a simple structure and no interconnection. Mushroom bombs are definitely not a defense, and at most they can protect against aerial bomb fragments, which is better than nothing.

The second phase was more formal, from 1985 to 1989. Civil air defense projects began to develop towards permanent status, and protection indicators were issued from above.

The first is "deep excavation and concealed excavation". The hole is 8 meters deep and supported by prefabricated reinforced concrete parts. It must be poured with cement and covered with soil at least 4 meters. All projects must be able to withstand direct hits from small bombs.
The second is to reinforce, transform and connect the original first phase project, and ultimately meet the requirements of waterproofing, fireproofing and radiation protection.

Every city has one or several underground trunk roads, and the tunnels in the blocks are connected to the trunk roads. Once the interconnection project is completed, a tunnel network will basically be formed underground in large cities.

In later generations, some of these underground projects were sealed, while others were opened to civilian use, and each had its own ending.

In addition to the city's network of air-raid tunnels, the nation also built large-scale underground projects. The most famous of these is Project 6501, later known as the "Underground Great Wall of China."

It started construction three years ago, but no one knew about it because it was a confidential project.

The entire project took ten years to complete. The cave is 17000 meters long and covers an area of ​​more than 80000 square meters. It is divided into three layers: upper, middle and lower.

There are countless caves of different sizes on both sides, with caves within caves and caves connected to each other. They are winding and circuitous, with intricate mechanisms and secret passages, like a maze. Exploring in the caves is mysterious and unpredictable.

It is connected from top to bottom and has an extremely complex structure, like a "long vine with melons". It has a total of 25 halls (rooms) and 17 ventilation shafts. The large holes can accommodate trains, and the small holes can be used by cars.

It is known as "the world's first artificial cave" and "China's underground Great Wall" and can be called "a unique wonder in China".

By the 21st century, it had become a free tourist attraction, attracting many tourists.

(End of this chapter)